"All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else."

~The Buddha

You know I like these things that come in my email.  I don't always agree with them and some don't resonate at all.  And sometimes my mind makes weird, random connections.  Like today.

Today (Pk's last day of class) I was on the train.  By the time we got to the third stop, the seats were all full.  There were still 4 stops to go on the Jersey side of the river and it was getting full.  I don't know why people insist on crowding near the doors, but they do.  It makes it difficult for new people to get on and find a place to stand and it makes it almost impossible for people to get off.

This morning, the aisles filled up and the doorways looked like a subway in New York City at rushhour.  It's not normally like that this early in the morning.  The first stop over the bridge is the big one.  Probably a full third of the train's passengers get off there.  Imagine the chaos as all these people try to squeeze through the crowd at the door.  Yep, it was ugly.

I overheard some one say in a nasty sounding voice, "If you would get out of the way....."  instead of "Excuse me".  Then I overheard the phrase "chivalry is dead".  And I wonder where that came from.  I thought about chivalry while I walked down the street.  Is that what we want?  Do we want that age to come back?  I don't. 

I don't want to go back to being someone's property without any rights of my own.  I'll take the rudeness and all that goes with modern day life, thank you.  I'd like us to move onto another age where we "do unto others" and realize that we are all connected here on the planet.  What I do has ripples and effects others.  I can affect the mood of someone else by my actions.  And I can be effected by others. 

We're all in this together

In other news, I have been crocheting some wash cloths at lunchtime in preparation for the knitting/crocheting group on Thursday.  I figured if people want to start out making something small but useful, a wash rag is an easy one.  The cotton I bought is soft and easy to work with.  I should probably knit one as well but that takes longer.  I always forget how fast crochet really is.  I'm using a plastic hook for the first time and I love it.  It gives and bends a bit making for less strain on my hands.  I'm hoping the group will be successful.  We've tried before and it starts off well but life gets in the way.

One of my all time favorite clients died and the viewing is tomorrow.  He had Down's Syndrome and developed Alzheimer's at the end.  He used to tell me we were going to get married.  When I asked him what about the husband I had already, he always waved his arm and said, "he can go away".  He loved chocolate pudding and playing volleyball (or what passed for volleyball in his world).  I'm going to take some of his friends from the day program to the viewing.  Another tough one.

I learned today that if you buy allergy medications and leave it in the closet, it doesn't do any good.  I am sneezing and my eyes are watering and my throat is scratchy.  The pines have loosed their pollen and every surface in our world here is covered with green/yellow pollen.  So, you know what the air is like.  Em told me that Allegra worked for her and since nothing else works for me, (well, except for benadryl but that puts me to sleep) I thought I'd try it.  And then I left it in the closet. 

I hope your day is a good one.  Mine is proving to be interesting to say the least.